Halloween season is upon us. There’s candy corn (which is disgusting), horror movies galore and the dreaded pumpkin spice flavoring has invaded Starbucks. This also means that most of the general public will begin slut-shaming women based on the provocative Halloween costumes they wear.

In the infamous words of Lindsay Lohan’s “Mean Girls” character, “Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it.”

It’s 2018 so ideas are more original, the makeup is better and the skirts are shorter. There seems to be a “sexy” version of every costume in existence and most women jump at the cuter outfits. Most women spend weeks picking out the right costume for their Halloween escapades and sometimes these costumes are a little more risque than planned.

Showing some skin on Halloween is perfectly acceptable.

If you’re going downtown with friends and want to wear your sexy nurse outfit, go ahead. If you plan on going to a costume party and want to wear the tight corset, be my guest. Halloween is supposed to be a spooky celebration of all things haunted and fun, it isn’t a time to sit and berate woman about the costumes they wear.

There aren’t solid alternatives for women’s costumes. A woman then has to make a decision to either wear a men’s costume and have the body shape of a cardboard box or to buy the cute little dress with an attached corset because that’s the only “womens” alternative a party store has. Which means she is either going to be ridiculed for not looking like a woman, or harassed for looking too much like a woman.

Like any of the other 364 days of the year, women should be able to wear whatever they want without being harassed because a man thinks her skirt is too short. For some women, Halloween is the time for their creativity to shine. They take pride in curating the perfect outfit and wearing it proudly for all to see. But still, women are subjected to slut-shaming and catcalling just because they decided to wear a leather skirt.

Stop slut shaming. Every year, the same narrative remains. A woman wears whatever she wants, and someone else decides that since it isn’t up to their modest expectations that they’re going to judge her for it. As if sexual promiscuity is based solely on the costumes you choose to wear during a holiday.

There is a time and place for provocative costumes. If you’re going downtown and want to wear black lace and heels, go for it. If you’re at your kid’s fourth grade “trunk or treat” it might not be the time to display your thigh-high suede boots, but to each their own. Take the time to appreciate the creativity that goes into Halloween costumes, and keep your commentary to yourself. Women have it rough enough, judging them for their Halloween costumes just makes everything worse.

Opinions expressed in The Nevada Sagebrush are solely those of the author and do not necessarily express the views of The Sagebrush or of its staff. Jacey Gonzalez studies journalism and can be reached at jaceygonzalez@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @JaceyLGonzalez.